Mind blown: The entire universe could be a hologram

[thackney]

Mind blown: The entire universe could be a hologram
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/01/30/universe-hologram-illusion/97249856/
Talk about a reality check: The entire universe could be a "vast and complex hologram," scientists reported Monday. Also, even more unsettling, what we think of as reality may  be just an illusion.

"Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions (and your perception of time) in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field," said study co-author Kostas Skenderis of the U.K.'s University of Southampton.

"The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card," Skenderis said. "However, this time, the entire universe is encoded."...

[the_doc]

I just KNEW it!  And the TBR Forum is my own solipsist fantasy.  (The Trumpsters are definitely not real.  I have their posts pre-programmed to make it seem that they think they are real when they attack me.)

[thackney]

The article made me immediately think of:

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
1989 by Richard Bach
https://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Adventures-Reluctant-Richard-Bach/dp/0440204887

[the_doc]

The article made me immediately think of:

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
1989 by Richard Bach
https://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Adventures-Reluctant-Richard-Bach/dp/0440204887

I have heard of that one.  Or maybe I just now made it up and imagined your post.  (I used the personal pronoun your to make this phony exchange on this non-existent forum seem realistic--realistic to me, of course.)

[Idaho_Cowboy]

It's a good theory until you stub your toe on the table that isn't really there.

[the_doc]

It's a good theory until you stub your toe on the table that isn't really there.

I already know that.  I just made up your post. 

[Ghost Bear]

I haven't read a lot of Philosophy, but doesn't the notion that the everyday world is an illusion go right back to the ancient philosophers?  In what way is this a new idea? 

[the_doc]

I haven't read a lot of Philosophy, but doesn't the notion that the everyday world is an illusion go right back to the ancient philosophers?  In what way is this a new idea?

Yeah, it goes way, way back.  As I type this, I can imagine you as a guy who would now want to read a pretty interesting article about solipsism at Wikipedia.

[andy58-in-nh]

I haven't read a lot of Philosophy, but doesn't the notion that the everyday world is an illusion go right back to the ancient philosophers?  In what way is this a new idea?

My sister once took a philosophy course in college.

When time came for the final exam, she saw that the test consisted of a single question: "Prove that the chair you are sitting on does not exist".

She thought it over for a moment and decided to answer in full, exactly as follows:

"What chair?"

She got an "A". 

True story.

[240B]

I'm getting the hell out of here.


Computer!
Arch!


um...


Computer!
Arch!


Jordie come in. The holodeck is not working..Jordi come in!

[Ghost Bear]

Yeah, it goes way, way back.  As I type this, I can imagine you as a guy who would now want to read a pretty interesting article about solipsism at Wikipedia.

And here we demonstrate the difficulty of solipsism: I actually read two articles at Wikipedia, one on Platonic Realism and the other on the Theory of Forms.   

Of course, if you knew that I was going to say that, then we are right back at square one...   

[thackney]

I haven't read a lot of Philosophy, but doesn't the notion that the everyday world is an illusion go right back to the ancient philosophers?  In what way is this a new idea?

They use a lot of modern words.

ABSTRACT
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.041301

We test a class of holographic models for the very early Universe against cosmological observations and find that they are competitive to the standard cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant (Λ CDM) of cosmology. These models are based on three-dimensional perturbative superrenormalizable quantum field theory (QFT), and, while they predict a different power spectrum from the standard power law used in Λ CDM, they still provide an excellent fit to the data (within their regime of validity). By comparing the Bayesian evidence for the models, we find that Λ CDM does a better job globally, while the holographic models provide a (marginally) better fit to the data without very low multipoles (i.e., l≲30), where the QFT becomes nonperturbative. Observations can be used to exclude some QFT models, while we also find models satisfying all phenomenological constraints: The data rule out the dual theory being a Yang-Mills theory coupled to fermions only but allow for a Yang-Mills theory coupled to nonminimal scalars with quartic interactions. Lattice simulations of 3D QFTs can provide nonperturbative predictions for large-angle statistics of the cosmic microwave background and potentially explain its apparent anomalies.

[Cripplecreek]

It's a good theory until you stub your toe on the table that isn't really there.

Well whoever is running this holodeck simulation is a real ass.

[bigheadfred]

They use a lot of modern words.

ABSTRACT
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.041301

We test a class of holographic models for the very early Universe against cosmological observations and find that they are competitive to the standard cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant (Λ CDM) of cosmology. These models are based on three-dimensional perturbative superrenormalizable quantum field theory (QFT), and, while they predict a different power spectrum from the standard power law used in Λ CDM, they still provide an excellent fit to the data (within their regime of validity). By comparing the Bayesian evidence for the models, we find that Λ CDM does a better job globally, while the holographic models provide a (marginally) better fit to the data without very low multipoles (i.e., l≲30), where the QFT becomes nonperturbative. Observations can be used to exclude some QFT models, while we also find models satisfying all phenomenological constraints: The data rule out the dual theory being a Yang-Mills theory coupled to fermions only but allow for a Yang-Mills theory coupled to nonminimal scalars with quartic interactions. Lattice simulations of 3D QFTs can provide nonperturbative predictions for large-angle statistics of the cosmic microwave background and potentially explain its apparent anomalies.

I think the word you want is contemporary--not modern. What I gather is they have taken a square peg and pounded it into a round hole with a hammer until it "fits". And to prove it they hit you in the head with the hammer--twice. Or to put it another way they built a mirror and when they look in it, they see themselves looking back.

[dfwgator]

 

"Can I buy some pot from you?"

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ


Pass the bong man!